MISCELLANEOUS, HIGH SAURIAN

Submitted by TzaTza

A Distinction Between High Saurian and Battlefield Saurian: High Saurian places the highest emphasis on proper noun-verb/adjective/etc. order, the correct use of constructs like -i- or the plurals, etc, in correlation with the rules of grammar. Battlefield Saurian places more emphasis on speed of use and how quickly a thought can be transmitted by the spoken word. The first thing to go, usually, is noun-verb/adjective/etc. order, which is rearranged depending on the word of a specific Old One whose presence is in the Lizard army. Typically the divination involves cracking open the skull of a sacrificial victim whose heart has already been offered to the Old One in a propitiary ritual prior to the divinatory, and reading the proper pattern in the lines and creases of the brain itself. Two popular differences between High Saurian and Battlefield Saurian are dropping the -tec or -tecah from most names as well as putting the verb before the noun in sentences that more closely resemble the speedily-used tongues of warmbloods.

Between Living And Dead Magic: What the Lizards consider to be "dead" magic primarily applies to the Vampire Counts and the Tomb Kings, and they regard Necromancy as an abomination. "Dead" air is more problematic; the construct -tepox is rarely used, as there are very few places with truly dead air. Even inside a mouldering barrow, the air inside it sustains the growth of grave fungi and vermin. Disgusting life, but life nonetheless. The most frequent sources of tepox are the Chaos Wastes, though some Slann harness tepox for use in powerful magics, particularly on the battlefield.

Chocha: This has interesting implications concerning the separation of ghosts from jaguars, if there indeed is any, in Lizard cosmology. This also may be connected with the name of the city Chaqua. Perhaps at its origin, it was named Chaconqua, "Group of Ghosts" or "Joining Jaguars," with the second version possibly relating to the connection of the Old Ones' lines of power. Over time, or perhaps for expediency's sake, this was shortened to Chaqua. It seems most appropriate now to call it the Group of Ghosts.

Cities: Lizards do not consider cities in the extratemporal sense that warm-bloods do. Cities are not merely -THERE-, they live and die like anything else. Thus, -tlan represents a "living" city, and -tlax represents a "dead" city, as -x is the Saurian way of showing the past tense at the ends of most words. Thus, Tlaxtza could be translated as "Dead City of Water," whereas Tlankai might mean "Ancient Living City." Tlaxtlan, therefore, may be the closest thing Lizards have to an extratemporal city, as its name is easily translated as "Dead City Living City" or "Dead Temple Living Temple" and lends itself to a dichotomous representation of one side being dead and the other alive, or of life and death mingling to form a city that was (or is; I can't remember right off if Tlaxtlan is still extant or not in canon) akin to cities as warm-bloods know them.

City vs. Temple: It is also worth noting that High Saurian does not recognize a major difference between cities and temples, which highlights the importance of the Old Ones in Lizard society. Belief in the Old Ones does not really fall under the title of religion, as "religion" implies a system of faith unnecessary when the very servants of the gods rule society, but it does provide for temples as a place to propitiate the higher powers and ask for Their favor. The Old One system of belief thus is not prone to existentialism and related heretical thoughts as found elsewhere, particularly among Men. The exception to all of this is the Cult of Sotek, whose temples are temples in the mystery-cult/revelatory sense and whose primary god is murkier in origin.

Diminutive: Sometimes used in connection with other words to form a diminutive reference, as all Lizards are "of the water" after a fashion, but "watery" refers to a Lizard that Imperials might refer to as "wet behind the ears."

Honorific: -tzin. Usually applied to a Slann's name, occasionally a particularly mighty Saurus Scar-Veteran or Oldblood, once in a while even the Temple Guard. The suffix literally means "honorable" though its placement in a translated name depends primarily on how the name is translated. For instance, an Oldblood named Huanuaxtectzin (see the Singulars and Plurals section below) might have a name in warm-blooded tongues of "The Jungle's Honorable Killer," though the literal translation is "Jungle-Death-(numerical indicator)-(honorific.) The honorific is common in Lizardmen society, though various groups and entities that follow Tepok, Huanchi and Quetzl tend to have names that more frequently include it. As the blessed Saurus and Skinks of these three Old Ones tend to depend on the more tenuous elements of the World Plan for their well-being, it is believed that using the honorific is in good keeping with how the Old Ones once addressed their servants, and that this will bring luck and power to the Lizards.

Slann: Probably expressed with the glyphs/letters for Tzlan. This bears similarities to "tlan," which is sometimes used as a word describing cities, and is entirely appropriate as a comparison. Just as in medieval kingdoms (supposedly) the king was regarded as an extension of the land the same is true of Lizards, only moreso. A Slann might very well be responsible for keeping the land hospitable enough to support Lizard life. As Slann are alive, but can die, they are very much akin to the temple-cities. It also reinforces the tenet among Lizards that the Slann are the temples, and that the Slann are the cities. Degeneration occurs in places without cities, without Slann. The Dragon Isles are the most notable example, though the Southlands teeter without the highest levels of the societal pyramid. The names of particularly ancient Slann are also frequently accented in High Saurian when they appear in words or sentences, denoting the power and presence of said Slann.

Saurus: Usually written "Tzauaruz." Oddly appropriate, I think, particularly since a newborn Saurus Warrior would be a Tzaruz or Tzauruz, "Born in Water" and the Saurian version is appropriately akin to warm-blooded pronunciations of "Saurus."

Spoken Saurian: Saurian words can mean many different things, depending upon their order in a sentence or the context in which they are used. Outsiders have noted that the slow-witted, structurally limited Saurus Warriors and Kroxigor are unable to use Saurian as well as the quick-minded, physically diverse Skinks. While Saurus and Kroxigor must resort to different volumes, spoken inflections and various reptilian sounds or motions to make up what they speak of Saurian, Skinks are fully capable of using all of these and more tools besides. Subtle changes in the color of a Skink's crest, a rapid adjustment in tone or pitch between words, quick movements of the tail or hands, and closely clipped glottal stops between words or syllables make their meaning clear. The Slann, of course, are above all of this and use powerful telepathy to overcome the boundaries of the spoken word. Warm-blooded scholars and Skinks who write Saurian with letters frequently use accent marks over particular letters to denote emphasis on one syllable or another, which is frequently just which version of a Saurian word is to be used in a particular contex. Also, Skinks create unique characters to represent sounds peculiar to Lizards, and it is these unique features which make understanding Saurian most difficult to outsiders. It is usually impossible for an Elf to change his head-crest from green to orange to signal an attack, for instance.

Writing Materials and Methods: There are two common methods of communicating by writing in Lizard society, most frequently used on tasks too trivial to warrant Slann telepathic communication. The most common of the two involves sliced reeds, whose interior pulps are beaten into a thin sheet and dried for use as paper. These form letters, codices, and similar forms of communication similar to warm-blooded methods, which in turn raises the question of just who created this concept in the first place. Special ceremonial codices or scrolls may be written upon stranger materials and with different inks than the usual crushed-beetle compounds. Some have noted codices in the Temples of Sotek made from the skins of sacrificed Skaven, while the paper-sheet codices in the Temples of Tepok seem to have nothing upon them at all, until they are held up in the moving air and their writing becomes clear. Saurian itself is written in series of compound glyphs, where each segment of the glyph represents a different syllable or word. Translating these glyphs is a ponderous task for the most learned of outsiders, and particularly ancient Lizard texts even give Skink Priests some pause. For instance, a glyph depicting a pool of water around a stand of jungle in which a pyramid's altar is rising represents Huantzaoatl, the Temple in the Jungle's Waters. The second, and more specialized, is communication by quipu. While not a system of writing per se, it is done by tying off lengths of hair (usually taken from native Lustrian warm-bloods or captured enemies) and dipping them in differently colored dyes. Each dye corresponds to a different concept or god in the language of quipus, and their order on the knotted cord is startlingly complex.

Written Saurian: There are two ways to write High Saurian on paper or skin, etc. One, the more ceremonial and proper fashion, is to use the compound glyphs. This is always done in the temples, without exception. Even the temples of Sotek use this, partly to lend Sotek wide acclamation on par with the Old Ones, and partially to raise Sotek's power; the use of the Old Ones' bestowed method of writing gives Sotek power, in the same manner as Saurus Warrior regiments are named for Scar-Veterans or Oldbloods leading them. It is believed that the names of the elders will give power to the youth. The second method, far more common on the battlefield and for quick messages, is to use letters to represent each sound in Saurian, whether High Saurian or the battle-oriented artificial Saurian. Unlike some warm-blood societies, where such a split in writing methods might lead to massive cultural changes as the "old traditional" style is shunted aside in favor of the more popular new style, Lizards have no such problem. The ceremonial system of writing was given directly to them by the Old Ones. There is no questioning of its usefulness or its origins. Some astute priests have noted that it is unlikely the Old Ones would answer any messages presented to Them in such a new, untested system of writing as the letter-based version of Saurian. Mere battlefield communications are not sufficient to judge its worthiness.